Spiritual FAQs

Q. I have been in contact with ISKCON for one year, but I am still not happy. I believe that I have taken birth to serve India. I want to live and die for India. I don’t want to go to the kingdom of God until I feel that I have completed my job on this earth.

My problem with ISKCON is that the lectures teach only the ways to go to God, but I want to know the ways to live in this Kali-yuga. Of course, I will remain a devotee of Lord Krishna. But please give me some tips that will help me live in this Kali-yuga.

Let me tell you my aim in this life: I want to fight for justice. I want to serve the people of India. I want to serve the society.

A. Lord Krishna has appeared in this Kali-yuga as Lord Caitanya, who states that the duty of every Indian is to make his life perfect by becoming Krishna conscious and helping others become Krishna conscious. If you accept that as your service for India, you will make a great contribution. Because Srila Prabhupada took Lord Caitanya’s instruction seriously, he was able to greatly benefit the world by giving the perfection of India’s spiritual culture, pure devotion to Lord Krishna. If you follow in his footsteps, that will be the greatest service you can perform for Krishna, for India, for the world, and for yourself.

The best way to live in this world is the same as the way to go to the spiritual world: to fully engage in God’s service.

It is said that those who have lost their spiritual vision in this age of Kali can get light from Srimad-Bhagavatam. So you can study under the guidance of a realized soul and be enlightened and act in an enlightened way. The Srimad-Bhagavatam says that those who know the essence of things worship the age of Kali because in this age one can attain all desirable things simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord.

The greatest injustice is that because people lack real knowledge, they are being systematically slaughtered life after life as a result of neglecting their relationship with God. You can teach, by your own example, that life’s goal is spiritual realization, and you can also help educate others and end this slaughtering by teaching them Bhagavad-gita. If you want to do good to others, why not work for their eternal benefit? If you do this, you will be forever gloried and your soul be fully satisfied.

Q. When you say that we serve all living things when we serve Krishna.Shouldn’t it be the other way around?  I mean when we help someone else aren’t we serving the Lord indirectly?

A. When we water the root of the tree all the leaves and branches are nourished. When we feed our stomach, we nourish all of our bodily parts. Do we feed our stomach by sticking our hand in the rice and trying to digest the rice through our skin? No. By taking the rice in our hand and feeding it to the mouth the food goes to the stomach and from the stomach the hand gets its nourishment. Our so-called service to man will always remain imperfect until we make God the absolute center of our life. We will simply render some service to their temporary material bodies without benefiting their eternal spiritual beings even the slightest bit.

In India it is popularly said, “Manav seva, Prabhu seva–Serving man is serving God,” but this is a modern day misconception that is not supported in the Vedic literatures. The real fact, according to the Vedic wisdom, is that by serving God we automatically give the best service to all living beings.

Try to understand that we cannot factually help anyone in the real sense unless we are reconnecting them with God. We may provide someone with all material facilities, but they will still get sick, get old, and die. But if we can awaken their dormant Krishna consciousness, we are eternally and unlimitedly benefiting them. They will become forever free from birth, death, old age, and disease.

In the Vedic culture material help is also given, but it is always understood to be less important than giving them Krishna consciousness. We give material help and at the same time give them Krishna. Material help gives limited temporary relief. Krishna consciousness gives permanent relief from all forms of suffering.

Q. In your Bhagavad-gita ‘ in text 9.11 the word ‘mudha’ is translated as “rascals,” “fools,” etc. Please don’t use words that pinch new learners. This is my humble request. – K. P. Satyamoorthy,Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India

A.  As Prabhupada himself would point out, he is simply repeating Krishna’s words. Krishna certainly has the right to label someone a fool, and people should know who Krishna considers foolish. That’s part of the wisdom of the Gita. Krishna makes distinctions.

As followers of Srila Prabhupada we don’t feel it is proper for us to interfere with his preaching style. If he felt it was important to repeat Krishna‘s words in pointing out who is foolish, it’s not our position to challenge him.

We ourselves might use a gentler approach when preaching, and Prabhupada did that also, but if Prabhupäda felt that strong words were sometimes needed, we have to agree with that assessment. Besides, we might not be able to predict the effect of strong words. Someone might read them and think, “Oh, Krishna says I’m a fool. So I should stop being a fool and surrender to Him.”

Srila Prabhupada often spoke strongly, and he inspired thousands—maybe millions—of people to become devotees of Krishna.

Q. If the Lord dislikes killing, why are animal sacrifices to God found in the scriptures? – Chung Fai Wu,Via the Internet

A. Although animal sacrifice to God is mentioned in the scriptures, it is ultimately forbidden there. Sometimes the scriptures recommend animal sacrifice for meat-eaters who can’t give up their habit all at once. They can offer the animal in sacrifice and then eat it, gradually becoming free of the desire to eat meat. Fortunately, today we can perform the sacrifice of chanting Hare Krishna and eating delicious vegetarian food offered to Krishna .That will quickly purify us and free us from the base desire to eat meat. There’s no good reason for anyone to kill animals today.

Q. If the Lord dislikes killing, why are animal sacrifices to God found in the scriptures? – Chung Fai Wu,Via the Internet

A. Although animal sacrifice to God is mentioned in the scriptures, it is ultimately forbidden there. Sometimes the scriptures recommend animal sacrifice for meat-eaters who can’t give up their habit all at once. They can offer the animal in sacrifice and then eat it, gradually becoming free of the desire to eat meat. Fortunately, today we can perform the sacrifice of chanting Hare Krishna and eating delicious vegetarian food offered to Krishna .That will quickly purify us and free us from the base desire to eat meat. There’s no good reason for anyone to kill animals today.

Q. I have a “natural” tendancy to be very critical and hence find mistakes/faults in people. Most of the time, I find fault with people at the mental level and not necessarily express it. This habit also extends to devotees. I feel and know I am not supposed to do this. But, like I said, this has become a habit and I am finding it hard to relinquish it.

In this whole process, I know I am wrong and hence I am always upset with my behavior (but this happens as a reflex action and not able to control my mind).

Please advise me as to what I should do and how I should stop this habit of mine! I feel this will hamper my devotional process and that Guru and Krishna will not be happy with me.

A. There is a very simple and sure solution recommended to overcome fault-finding tendency — deliberately cultivate the opposite habit! Search out and heartily appreciate the genuine good qualities in others, particularly in relation to how these qualities are the gift of Guru and Krishna, and are to be used in their service.

You can begin by making a very deliberate & conscious effort, as a daily exercise, of acknowledging and appreciating good qualities in devotees, and whenever circumstances allow, verbally expressing such appreciation and praise. Even better are opportunities to offer heartfelt service to devotees in a humble mood, and while offering such service doing so as a meditation and expression of appreciation of specific good qualities you find in them – such genuine service to vaishnavas can soften the heart and purge all critical mentality. You can also seek out the association of those who themselves have such a quality of genuine appreciation for others and serve in their company.

As you practice appreciating others, rather than arbitrarily praising some independent traits, it would be much beneficial to try to identify in what way Krishna’s descending mercy is flowing into & transforming these devotees’ lives and how they are making sincere efforts according to their capacity to take shelter of Krishna and His devotees. It is by this one good quality — “krsna-eka-sharana” – that a devotee in time develops all desirable qualities, whereas it is concluded that a non-devotee has no good qualities whatsoever, because he is hovering on the mental plane. (Cf BG 1.28 purport)

Ultimately, we are interested neither in criticizing so-called bad qualities nor in praising mundane good qualities. Krishna decorates His faithful devotees with transcendental good qualities and by appreciating His devotees we are actually praising the manifestation of His mercy. You will find that even if there may be some factual, minor discrepancies in devotees, these become insignificant in comparison to the more significant factor of how their original nature is unfolding in relationship with Krishna, just like the black spots on the moon become insignificant in comparison to the flood of cooling illumination it provides.

Another very helpful meditation you can cultivate is to learn to see through the eyes of scriptures what the praiseworthy qualities in a devotee are. You can repeatedly study relevant sections from the Bhagavad-Gita or Srimad Bhagavatam where Krishna glorifies those engaged in His devotional service and how very dear they are to Him. E.g see BG 7.16-18, 9.14,15,22, 9.29-34. By regularly meditating on these passages, we can cultivate very deep respect and appreciation for the actual position of devotees beyond the external, circumstantial and temporary characteristics that we generally tend to focus on and instead appreciate their essential characteristic of taking shelter in Krishna.

By developing this spiritual vision, it can then also be extended to those who are not devotees; rather than being disturbed by their faults, we can learn to see the root cause of their difficulties viz. their disconnection from God and thus develop compassion for them.

Moreover, remind yourself of the fact that devotional service rendered sincerely is *SO* powerful that it can wipe out all discrepancies, in us and in others.

The process of devotional service is very powerful and by adopting the right means and applying oneself to them, lifetimes of habits and conditioning can be easily overcome. Have trust in this fact and with enthusiasm take up these positive steps. When we are actively cultivating the positive, there is no room for the negative; and the converse is also true! You are recognizing what is wrong and why it is wrong and you also feel genuine regret, but now do not dwell on it and let yourself be defeated by negative thoughts of frustration or anger towards yourself or how you are displeasing Guru and Krishna. Instead take up the positive and liberating process of rectification — this will be most pleasing to them and attract their descending mercy which will further fill your heart with deeper appreciation of the glories of vaishnavas

Q. Can a mantra really neutralize the sins already done or does it only give the courage to bear the pain (result)?

A. The Holy Name of God can actually eradicate the reactions for all the sins already committed.

Not only that, scriptures state that when properly chanted, hari-nama can destroy more sins than one can possibly ever commit.

In order to derive the full benefit of chanting — it can even burn up the residual tendency in the heart to commit further sins! — chanting must be taken up properly. One should carefully avoid the ten kinds of offenses in chanting, especially the mentality that one can continue sinning and that it will be adjusted on the strength of chanting. Conversely, an attitude of surrender, sincere repentance and adherence to a theistic way of life are favorable and quickly help to perfect one’s chanting.

Chanting gives immediate relief from the blazing reactions of past sins, and quickly ushers in auspiciousness – this can be tangibly experienced in our lives. Yet, as long as we are in this material ocean, its waves and whirlpools will not cease; that is to say that by taking up chanting it is not to be expected that there will be never be another difficulty/pain/reversal in one’s life. But these do not have the same disturbing effect upon those who take firm shelter in the Holy Name. In that sense, one could say that chanting gives the spiritual strength to tolerate material disturbances, but this is not the same as suffering that comes from past sins. And the Holy Name ultimately delivers one from this treacherous material existence altogether

Q. Does the all-merciful God punish me for my wrong deeds?

A. Krishna never punishes anyone. But out of foolishness, the living entity  places himself in trouble, by neglecting the loving guidelines and warnings that the Lord is constantly giving us.

Even in the mundane world, a loving father or teacher – whose love is merely a glimmer of a fraction of Krishna’s love – will not have the heart to punish an erring child. Yet, when the child does not learn his lesson, a caring teacher will give tests and give consequences for the child’s right/wrong actions – even if it may appear painful for the child – because through this the child will eventually learn. Similarly if a child is uncontrollable and refuses to be disciplined by love, a loving father may reluctantly place the child under some stern authority, only for the benefit and education of the child. Even if this is done by loving parents, it is not with a view to punish, but to relieve the child of that which will bring them even greater unhappiness than the immediate restrictions do.

Srila Prabhupada explains that the all-affectionate Almighty Father similarly places the rebellious conditioned soul under the control of Mayadevi. In maya’s domain, the living entity experiences the just consequences of his own misdeeds, the laws of nature are very stringent and it is not possible to escape them after having done misdeeds. But if we learn our lesson, and once again lovingly turn our face to Krishna, and willingly abide by His instructions, we are immediately delivered from the clutches of this severe correction agency of Mayadevi. (See SB 1.7.5)

In essence, my response is that there is a world of difference between loving discipline and harsh punishment. Indeed, God is all-merciful, even when He extends loving discipline.

Q. In light of the Wars, could you please give some Vedic insight besides chanting the holy name? – Candra Dasa,Via the Internet

A. War arises from false claims of proprietorship over God’s property and from accepting as real designations based on the body and acting according to them. These problems can be eliminated if we all chant the Lord’s name, which purifies us from these defects, but unfortunately faithless people will never chant, and so the wars will continue to come and go, only to return again.

As long as we live in the material world, there will be lighting. Even in heaven, Lord Indra has to worry about people like Bali Maharaja usurping his position. But troublemakers cannot make it to Vaikuntha, the spiritual world, and therefore we should be determined to go there, and we should encourage others to make the same determination.

It is simple: In the material world there is always war, and in the spiritual world there is always peace; therefore we should aspire to go to the spiritual world. We should take advantage of the opportunity to encourage people to solve the problem of war by going back to Godhead. People do not consider that God is all good and all powerful and so in His world there is no anxiety. We should plan to go there by following the path chalked out by the great teachers who have understood the truth. Therefore chanting the holy name is the real solution to the ultimate problem. We cannot eliminate war from this planet, but we can elevate our consciousness to the point where we will be able to attain the spiritual world, and thus eliminate war from our life.

Q. I am concerned that with so much emphasis in your teachings on leaving the material world and our bodies to get to the spiritual world with Krishna, this philosophy is creating an ethic that disregards the earth we live on. Why isn’t nature revered and loved just as much as Krishna? Is not the world, our environment, Krishna too? How can ISKCON join forces with the environmental movement to heal the relationship between people and land? – Lauren Rentenbach,Prescott, Arizona

A. You’re right in saying that as devotees of Krishna we should respect His creation, and Srila Prabhupada always taught that. (See Divine Nature, by Mukunda Goswami and Drutakarmä Dasa, available from our Hare Krishna Bazaar http://www.krishna.com) Prabhupada himself showed respect for everything, because he knew that everything is connected toKrishna.

Still, we don’t equate Krishna and His nature. We accept the philosophy of “simultaneous oneness and difference”—Krishna is one with His creation and different from it at the same time. So although we respect nature as Krishna’s energy, we don’t elevate it to the status of God.

You shouldn’t get any argument from devotees about the sanctity of nature. What you might find is debate about how much of our energy should go into conservation. Prabhupada taught us to try to live simply, and most of us could improve in that area. But Prabhupada never told us, for example, to go out and raise money for environmental causes.

Still, Prabhupäda did encourage us to spend money to set up Krishna conscious rural communities based on farming and cow protection, activities that improve the environment. He also liked nice gardens at his temples, and he argued against needless killing of animals, needless cutting of forests, and so on. He set goals that require us to collect and spend money in ways beneficial to creating a cleaner environment, one more hospitable to the practice of Krishna consciousness.

Ultimately, Prabhupada taught that Krishna consciousness solves all problems. So our mission is to give people Krishna. Environmental problems are only one of hundreds of problems that concern people. There are so many causes we could take up. But Prabhupada taught that trying to solve problems one by one is like trying to water a tree by watering its leaves and branches rather than its root.

Again, we agree that devotees could improve in their respect for the environment. And they will—as they advance in Krishna consciousness and learn more and more how to use the energy of Krishna in His service.